Addiction Research

Open Access ISSN: 2639-8451

Abstract


Addiction, Trauma, Attachment and Dissociation: A Treatment with Limbic Psychotherapy®

Authors: Bernard MAYER.

Within the range of methods amalgamating restricted verbal and non-verbal tactics, integrative therapies imbued with the complex neurophysiological facets of the condition present the best prospects. At the junction of physical and psychological dimensions, these "bottom-up" methodologies possess a distinct ability to activate the patient's neurophysiological reserves, while guarding against any susceptibility to suggestion on the part of the therapist. Targeted manual interventions, previously employed in TICE® [12], reinforce the initial effects, which fundamentally derive from the patient's innate self-healing capacities. The blockages arising from double or triple binds, often including those of a higher order, maintain this deregulated state of functioning in order to survive, because this is how the patient's nervous system was able to respond at the time of his or her trauma, as Pierre Janet already stated in the 1890’s : this constitutes the very essence of Limbic Psychotherapy®, an approach refined over decades of clinical experience with patients. Limbic Psychotherapy® regulates the limbic system by intervening directly at the neurophysiological level, in particular on the balance between the ventral and dorsal vagal pathways of the autonomic nervous system, as described in S. Porges' model. As a result, Limbic Psychotherapy® is both a psychotherapy and a neurotherapy, and is particularly effective in cases of structural and, above all, functional dissociation [33]. A clinical framework ideally suited to treating dissociative states, chronic stress, persistent pain, digestive problems, addictions and trauma. Thanks to the application of double tuning and specialized somatic interventions, the regulation of sympathetic/parasympathetic responses often begins as early as the first session, offering immediate relief to the patient.

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